Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty rise to career-high World No 2 ranking

Fresh from winning the Korea Open, India’s men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy rose to a career-best second spot in the latest BWF rankings. Satwik and Chirag jumped one place, displacing the Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang whom they had defeated in the Korea Open semi-finals, to achieve a new career-high men’s doubles ranking. The reigning Asian Games champions, who won the Korea Open (Super 500), Swiss Open (Super 300) and Indonesia Open (Super 1000) titles this year, now have 87,211 points. Playing their fourth final of the year, Satwik and Chirag rallied from a game down to defeat the top ranked pairing of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the Korea Open. The duo have not lost a final this season and are on a 10-match unbeaten run on the BWF World Tour. Meanwhile, PV Sindhu, who made an early exit from the Korea Open, has managed to hold on to her 17th spot in the singles list. London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, however, dropped a spot to 37. HS Prannoy continues to be India’s top-ranked shuttler, occupying the 10th spot in the men’s singles rankings, led by Viktor Axelsen. While Canada Open winner Lakshya Sen has dropped a place to World No 13 after missing the Korea Open. Kidambi Srikanth, who has been struggling with form, remains 20th. (with inputs from PTI)